Canadian Killed In Mexico Spoke Of High Connections, Prison Access

A Canadian businessman whose charred remains were found in Mexico over the weekend had spoken openly about his connections to that country’s highest-ranking politicians, and about unwritten deals he struck to recruit workers in prisons.

Mexican forensic investigators on Monday were testing DNA from skeletal remains found in the trunk of a car rented last month by Daniel Dion.

Family members from Carleton Place, Ont., travelled Friday to the scene in a remote area about 130 kilometres south of Acapulco and found a watch they believe belonged to Dion.

Dion, 51, was last seen in the wee hours of Oct. 23 following a dinner at an Acapulco restaurant.

“We can’t say whether it’s the person you say it is, they’re taking DNA samples,” said Desenia Estrada of Forensic Services Secretariat in Chilpancingo, adding that it could take a month to get the results.

Martin Jimenez, of the ministerial police service’s headquarters, said it would be “presumptuous” to make any assumptions about the motives behind Dion’s apparent murder.

Mexican media have varying accounts of what happened to Dion. Several outlets quoted the state prosecutor’s office on Friday as saying Dion had been kidnapped from his apartment on the same night he had been out for dinner.

The Mexican embassy in Ottawa released a statement late Monday, saying Mexico’s government supports Dion’s family and will closely monitor the investigation into his disappearance.

“From the moment that information was received regarding Mr. Dion’s disappearance, the Mexico-Canada Consular Rapid Response Mechanism was activated. In this framework, Mexican authorities have been working with Canadian authorities to follow developments in the case,” the statement reads.

A frequent traveller to Mexico, the Sherbrooke, Que., native would have been well aware of the violence that plagues large swaths of Mexico, and particularly Guerrero state, where battling drug cartels are pushing up the death toll.

One of Dion’s businesses, Ecopurse, sold handbags made by prisoners at several penal institutions, as well as home-based Mexican labourers.

In a August 2009 interview with Guerrero-based news agency Irza, Dion said that both Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Federal District Governor Marcelo Ebrard knew about his business. He said he paid his workers at least double the state’s minimum wage to assemble the purses from recycled materials.

When asked how he was able to gain access to the prisons and prisoners, Dion told the reporter that he had a “verbal” agreement with the state’s public safety chief, General Heriberto Salinas Altes.

“I’m trusted….The (labour) law doesn’t permit it. In Mexico it could be very complicated…I have a verbal agreement with everyone,” Dion was reported as saying.

Dion also explained how he was able to move freely in and out of prisons, without having to undergo the usual security checks.

“…Because I don’t bring anything for my own safety, because if I did, that would be a crime, such as a gun, they’d think I was trying to bring it in and I’m not….but on the other hand, if a prisoner tried to screw with my money or something like that, I could get him transferred to the island,” Dion said in the interview, referring to Mexico’s island penal colony at Islas Marias.

A contact of Dion’s at the Chilpancingo Prison, who answered a phone number listed on Dion’s business card, said he did not know Dion very well and knew nothing more about his death than what he had read in the newspapers.

“He was a person that always went out alone, that was out in the street, and didn’t appear to have any problems with anyone,” said Felix Camponale, the institution’s administrative clerk.

“So, obviously, I’m surprised because I never thought he could have such a grave problem.”

Dion’s niece and family spokeswoman, Franceska Dion, said she was not prepared to talk to the media Monday. Her Twitter page read, “I was not ready to say goodbye uncle Daniel Dion — I won’t forget you, I love you. xx. ps: I’ll do what you asked me to.”

The breakthrough in the search for Dion came with the help of the Ontario Provincial Police detachment in Carleton Place.

Frantic, the family had gone to Det.-Sgt. Peter Donnelly for help. Donnelly tracked down Dion’s last credit card statements and found the record of the car rental.

He transmitted the information to the RCMP liaison in Mexico City, who in turn worked with local authorities to track the car.

“When the vehicle’s tampered with in any way, if there’s any damage to the vehicle, it sets off the GPS device which sends out a homing beacon, so that the Hertz Rental Co., could easily locate the car once that homing beacon went off,” said Donnelly.

He added that there was no evidence in Dion’s records of any strange bank withdrawals or transactions. His family believes he was carrying between $500 and $5,000 in cash when he disappeared.

Several family members, including a brother and a nephew, had gone to Mexico to search for Dion. They expressed frustration over how Mexican authorities and Canadian consular officials were handling the case.